Update a Display Adapter in Your PC

You add a new display adapter to your PC the same way as you add any expansion card. But beyond the physical installation, you need to be aware of a few things when performing this type of operation.

When updating a display adapter, you’re either removing an adapter card or simply replacing the video adapter supplied by the computer’s motherboard. Either way, there’s nothing extra you need to do on the hardware side. The computer recognizes the new display adapter when you turn on the PC again.

However, when you turn the computer on again, it defaults to a generic, low-resolution display. Don’t let it alarm you! Windows doesn’t know anything about the new display adapter, so it returns to using the generic, low-end video adapter driver. After you install the new drivers, you can reselect your favorite display resolution.

Yes, by switching to the low-resolution driver, Windows juggles any icons you have pasted to the desktop. You can restore the icons to their previous positions after updating the display adapter software.

There’s no need to disable the motherboard’s display adapter hardware. You still see it show up in the list of display adapters in the Device Manager.

You can also install a second display adapter and use two display adapters in Windows.

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